weekly startup spotlight

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on productivity, health and tech, and drop unique opportunities in the space right to your inbox daily. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in!💌

scroll to the end for my daily roundup on unique opportunities!

onto today’s topic: mercor 🪙 

i just recently stumbled on one of the most rapidly growing startups ever. founded in 2023, mercor — an all encompassing ai hiring platform — is already generating millions of dollars in revenue.

briefly, mercor makes hiring 10x quicker and easier. with interview modules replicating that of fortune 500 companies’, and extensive databases of both candidates and gigs at companies. it operates as a marketplace where developers can create, deploy, and monetize machine learning models, while businesses gain access to custom ai solutions without the need for in-house expertise.

it’s like the perfect place for freelance ai specialists and companies that have short-term projects — a dream for people with professional commitment issues. 😍 

let’s talk numbers! 🤓

the ai platform market is expected to grow from $19.8 billion in 2024 to $136.5 billion by 2034, reflecting a cagr of 21.3% (source).

in its early days, mercor achieved a revenue run rate of $1 million, generating $80,000 in profit without external funding (source), and by 2024, this number rose to $50 million in revenue. furthermore, the platform has vetted 300,000+ job candidates and conducted 100,000+ interviews.

questions i’d be interested to ask:

• what is your profit model? do you take commission from different gigs?

• what was the distribution strategy behind rapid growth?

daily opportunity + resource drops 🔍️